


Scum Protagonist's Self-Saving System

by JaQueen



Category: Naruto, 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù
Genre: BAMF Haruno Sakura, BLINKING ICONS WITHIN FIC, Because No One Knows Sasuke Is A Woman Yet, Cats Because Author Loves Cats, Character Development For Spite, Choji is Best Boy, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 (Naruto) Feels, Dai-nana-han | Team 7 Bonding (Naruto), Dai-nana-han | Team 7 Have Issues (Naruto), Female Uchiha Sasuke, Gender Dysphoria, Haku (Naruto) Lives, Hatake Kakashi Is Trying, Hatake Kakashi is a Bad Teacher, Kakashi Is Unsure If He Has Been Adopted Or Is Adopting, Kunoichi After School Club, May/Bizarro!Sasuke Actually Does Have A Backstory And It Will Be Relevant, Medic Uchiha Sasuke, Misgendering, Momochi Zabuza Actually Cares About His Tiny Son, Moodboards At End, Multi, Naruto is Just Naruto, Not Beta Read, OC!Sasuke, One-Sided Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Pairings added as needed, Protagonist Has Strong Opinions On Boruto, Protective Uchiha Sasuke, Self-Indulgent, Self-Insert, Self-Insert as Sasuke, Short Chapters, Some Humor, The Only Character From SVSS Is the System, They Are Negative, Tossawary's System Icons Used Within, Trans Female Character, Umino Iruka Fan Club
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:55:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24713452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JaQueen/pseuds/JaQueen
Summary: A fan wakes up with a System in her head directing her to properly play her role as "Uchiha Sasuke" after dying young and mad. Now she has to figure out how to play the parts that are required while getting a Good End.
Relationships: Akimichi Chouji & Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke
Comments: 90
Kudos: 522
Collections: A Collection of Beloved Inserts, Keep it a Secret, Reincarnation and Transmigration, The Best of SI  Oc Fics





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> No knowledge of SVSS needed to read, but definitely drawing inspiration from that for this flavor of SI/OC.
> 
> Sasuke is not actually Scum but it is a reference.
> 
> WARNING: Blinking icons used within fic.

_Naruto._ It was a world renowned story. One of the Big Title Shonen that defined what a Shonen was meant to be. For May it something she had followed faithfully from beginning to end, reading every volume, watching every filler arc, purchasing every extra book. 

Only to be betrayed at the end by _That Chapter_ and the abomination that was _Boruto._ May had put up with the many faults of her much beloved series, sexism, increasingly OP characters, completely forgotten side cast, ridiculous twists, fucking aliens, but she was not willing to accept the complete slaughter of her favs happy ends.

Sakura, Hinata, Ino, Temari, these powerful women she'd watched grow up all side lined as stay at home mothers without ambition? May had no problem with stay-at-home Moms. That shit was hard and praise be to those that went through it without their deserved praise. But almost every, single, female character suddenly deciding they wanted nothing more than to be a wife and settle down? Implying it was all they could be?

Fuck. That. Noise.

Sakura's complete devotion and love and working to stay loyal to her love and friendship to Sasuke and not even getting an apology? But a forehead flick and an absentee husband? Naruto breaking himself over and over for his friendship and love and him becoming a neglectful father? Sai, her baby, being pushed to the side and ignored? Tenzo being who-that-I-don't-know-her? No fucking Team 7 proper reunion and them against the world? Sasuke becoming a wandering bum?

Kishi how dare?

May was practically shaking with rage as she'd thrown the final volume, having carefully waited until it was printed and not reading it on any websites despite the temptation, across the room as hard as she could, startling her nurse who'd just walked in. It had taken a week of rage filled Meta writing and scathing conversations with fellow wronged fans for her to calm down.

When she'd heard of _Boruto_ she'd decided to give it a shot desperate to recapture her love. Instead the first few episodes had so enraged her she'd spit up blood. Literally. All through her battery of tests her swirling thoughts distracted her from the inevitable. 

How dare the story that had buoyed her so long betray her at the very end? But she couldn’t stop watching it. Even as she expanded and found other stories (that did not disappoint) she watched it faithfully and raged. She was stuck in some horrible cycle of hope and disappointed rage with every episode.

It could have been so great! What a waste! You traitorous story! She cursed it to the end enjoying the warmth the rage granted her when she was so cold.

In the darkness there was an electronic tone, like an ancient computer booting up. Then came a voice, mechanical feminine voice that oddly sounded like Google Translate. 

**【** Activation code: “ _What a waste! You traitorous story!_ ” System automatically triggered. **】**

May was in a blackness that held no light, stretching endlessly in every direction. The voice seemed to echo around her, from all directions simultaneously. She did not scream, but it was a close thing. Wasn’t death supposed to mean she didn’t have to deal with nonsense anymore? And as the words registered she realized that was definitely nonsense. _Isekai_ level nonsense. 

“...hello?” she finally said, voice cautious and shakier than she’d like. The voice responded almost instantly.

 **【** Welcome to the System. This System operates in line with the design concept ‘PUT UP OR SHUT UP’; we hope to provide you with the best possible experience. It is our sincere wish that during your experience, you can fulfill your desire, and according to your wishes, transform a wasted work full of potential into a high-quality, magnificent, first-rate classic. We hope you enjoy. **】**

A sudden intense vertigo struck her as the voice finished speaking. She felt like her insides had flipped upside down and back leaving her reeling. It took a moment for her to register the subtle change in the darkness of her vision. It was not pitch black but rather the dark behind closed lids with light peeking through. She opened her eyes and slowly her vision cleared from a blurry mess into clear sight.

Like she was wearing her glasses. But she wasn’t. Her vision had no framed edge and she never wore contacts.

A small part of her started screaming incoherently even as she kept herself calm, breathing in slowly and letting it out until she felt the tension leave her face and relaxed. She was on a bed and there were white curtains hung for privacy. She recognized a hospital scent in the air, sterile edged with dying flowers. Blinking she looked around, noting the lack of IVs and colorful quilt over the standard blanket, confirming for her this was **_not_ ** her bed. Her screaming was already incoherent babbling at the sight of the parchment pale stick like arms attached to her and the sudden shrinkage that made the bed so large.

There was movement beside her and her eyes snapped to it to find the curtain being parted by a young man. She was embarrassed to find herself staring at him. She was not taking in his features, too caught up in looking at the deep scar that bisected his face in a painful looking gouge that took a solid bit out of his nose and reached across both checks. It was an extreme wound that looked too deliberate to be a simple accident. And that, more than the scar itself, turned her stomach. Realizing her mistake her whole body jerked as she focused on the young man’s face to find a relative plain tanned man with warm brown eyes and a relieved grin coming towards her. His chestnut hair was pulled back in a ponytail and his face was highlighted by the large, too familiar headband. May felt a steadily increasing panic that was directly proportional to the increasing volume of the screaming babble in her mind.

“Sasuke-kun, I’m glad to see you’re up,” the young man said, his voice warm and gentle as he took the seat beside her bed. She followed his movements dumbstruck, a ringing in her ears distracting her thoroughly.

That was Japanese. She recognized the general rise and fall of it if not the words, except for the fact she _did. She understood everything he said perfectly._

...did he just call her **_Sasuke_**?

Something dinged, _inside her head_ , and it was clear the man couldn’t hear the Google-Translate voice announce some truly terrifying information.

 **【** The System was successfully activated! Role bound: Uzumaki Naruto’s rival and friend, Rookie of the Year, Last Uchiha, ‘Uchiha Sasuke.’ Weapon: Academy standard gear. Starting B-points: one hundred. **】**

Her heart jumped in her throat. _System? What. The. Actual. Fuck?_

 **【** You have touched the System’s command execution, and have been bound to the account ‘Uchiha Sasuke.’ **】**

 **【** As the plot progresses, many different types of points will gradually become available, please ensure that none of these points fall below 0. Otherwise the System will automatically dole out punishment. **】**

She’d transmigrated. Like some sort of _Isekai_ protagonist. Like an SI/OC in a fanfic. Was she real? Oh god, were people reading about her life for entertainment? Was she a _character_? Did that mean complete strangers new about her crush on-

She stopped those increasingly panicked thoughts in their tracks and murdered them in infancy. No. That way lay mania. She was alive. In some sort of messed up fever dream of a new reality, _because May was dead and dead meant no more nonsense not an increase._ She needed to stay focused so she could flee somewhere safe to freak out and figure out what was going on.

The man, who she was realizing with a strange bubbling mixture of glee and horror, was looking more and more familiar, was still talking.

“-chakra exhaustion is serious Sasuke-kun. I know you’re advanced, but you cannot go ahead recklessly. To reach the point that a simple Henge could cause you to faint is _overexertion_ and you _will not do this again_ or I will take back my patronage for the Genin Library. It is a privilege because I thought you to be responsible but I will take it away if I believe you are endangering yourself with higher level jutsu unsupervised. _Am I understood?_ ”

She, May turned Sasuke, and _ohmygodI’mSasukewtf_ , nodded awkwardly as every part of her had gone full lockdown panic and she only kept her face calm through years of practice receiving Bad News.

“Yes,” she paused and added on testing her hypothesis. “Sensei.”

The young man, the famous Umino Iruka smiled at her lighting up his face and she wept inside. Her response had also been, impossibly, in Japanese. She didn’t need to think about it, the words came naturally going from idea to words rather than idea to her native language to Japanese.

Iruka– _Umino-sensei, Iruka-sensei? How should she refer to the man? Fuck it, Iruka.–_ nodded, seeming pleased by her acquiescence. Was that too easy? She knew Sasuke was a stubborn brat and rather rude with his general lack of honorifics, but she had a, possibly mistaken, impression he was at least cordial to Iruka?

**【 PROCESSING INQUIRY.】**

**【** Inquiry results! Inquiry results! Inquiry results! Important things are stated three times! **】**

 **【** This action is not considered OOC for role ‘Uchiha Sasuke’. ‘Uchiha Sasuke’s’ relationship to NPC Umino Iruka is set to ‘ **Respected Teacher - Level D** ’ with a medium setting of respect. Caution, currently, you’re in the starting stage, and the OOC feature is frozen. You’ll need to complete starting-stage missions to unfreeze. Before unfreezing, doing anything that violates the original ‘Uchiha Sasuke’ character’s settings will result in a fixed number of B-points being deducted. **】**

... _and if my points reach 0?_

 **【** You will automatically be deported back to the original world. **】**

May, no Sasuke, she corrected quickly, focused on not panicking over her _death sentence_ and took a steadying breath. She needed to start thinking of herself as Uchiha Sasuke effective immediately so she didn’t get yeeted back into her corpse. She may have accepted her death, as much as one could, but given the unexpected gift of being alive again, in a _healthy body_ , she was going to cling to it with every fiber of her being.

“The day has already ended, would you mind keeping me company on my way home?” Iruka asked lightly. It was carefully worded to not imply that Iruka was walking Sasuke home in a very obvious and responsible response to his underage student apparently collapsing in the middle of class. Ma-Sasuke doubted the OG would have accepted if he caught even implied weakness. She didn’t make eye contact as she nodded with a humph hoping to keep her face carefully aloof and not speaking would pass for now. 

When she got out of bed she was startled by how easy it was, how even this apparently weak version of her body could move with such ease and painlessly, oh there was some small ache, but she had known _pain,_ and that was practically a tickle.

"Ah, Sakura-chan and Ino-chan gathered your things for you." Iruka said it as mildly as possible, but Sasuke still felt a cold shiver at the thought of the frankly terrifying _fans_ and having to deal with pre-teens squishy feelings directed at _her._ A small part of her died a little at the thought, but the largest part of her was focused very much on surviving and gave a non-committal grunt, accepting the small bag Iruka passed her. 

She went through it absently, glad for the excuse of checking on everything. She found some normal school items: pens, paper, and a school book. But there were also distinctly odd items. The scroll, neatly tucking in the side, the weapon kit, the book being titled _Beginner's Guide to Natural Poisons._

After searching for a bit she found the main point of her search: a plain key ring holding three keys. One would, hopefully, be to her new 'home'. She tucked it into the pocket of her white shorts and her other hand followed into the other pocket, the bag slung over her shoulder.

Iruka led her out into the street, thankfully without initiating conversation. Her heart was beating like some prey animal, fast and skittering, in the back of her throat and she tried to focus on her surroundings. She wouldn't get the cheat of Iruka tomorrow. She was surprised to find that instead of being lost by the second turn, her mind was tracking the route with an unnerving ease.

May did not have a good sense of direction. It took her a year to memorize the fifteen minute route to work which consisted of three turns.

Sasuke's sense of direction was seemingly perfect.

Convenient or not, she didn't like the innocent reminder that something had deeply changed about her and it made her borrowed skin crawl.

Iruka stopped and she just managed to catch herself before she'd bump into him, marveling at the new instincts. They were in front of a nice looking apartment complex with a wall blocking the front yard and an iron fence. Iruka turned back to her with a gently stern expression. 

"The Medic said to rest Sasuke. That means no chakra over the weekend and anything physical in moderation."

A weekend. A glorious, disastrous weekend between her and interactions. She was tempted to throw her arms around Iruka's waist at the overwhelming sense of relief that brought, but doubted she could get away with it.

"Sensei," she said, bowing slightly, going for distant but ending closer to awkward. Iruka, angel that he was, accepted it with good grace and a small head dip. 

She opened the gate and walked into the apartment without any difficulty. Of the three keys the first one had fit the initial door leaving her without an awkward fumbling. Inside though she was faced with an even harder challenge. Identifying which apartment was hers without anyone noticing her lack of knowledge. 

May-Sasuke could weep.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Animated System Icons from Tossawary's [System Icons](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26777152/chapters/65321077).


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit transitional.
> 
> WARNING: Blinking icons used within fic.

Ninja apartments did not have name tags or name slates identifying the room listings, unlike some of the places she had lived. But they did have a mail room, discreetly to the side of the lobby. May-Sasuke had gone in to find twelve mailboxes with keyholes in front of them. Thus began the trial of the keys. She quickly sorted out the front door key but that left her with twenty-four possible combinations. The task went quicker than she hoped, only thirteen times and one slightly awkward moment of eye contact with another resident who came to check their mail. When she finally opened the box the key fit, it had a 303 above it. Inside were a few official looking letters that she shoved into her bag, relieved to have a number and threw herself up the stairs after looking around for an elevator out of pure habit.

Even with everything crashing down she allowed herself the simple pleasure of a body that went up the stairs with ease, muscles not straining after a single flight and her breath not a pain filled gasping. 

Sasuke lived in a very nice, fairly large apartment, at least from what she understood Japanese standards to be and her vague memories of Naruto’s apartment in the anime. The pleasure at her ability to move with ease and most of her calm evaporated as she began to crash in her relative "safety".

After she’d locked herself in the bathroom and had a small breakdown that involved hyperventilating and losing a couple hours in a panicked daze, she’d come down and began to access the situation. Laying against the cool tiles of the bathroom floor she addressed the System, firing off question after question so she had some idea of what she was working with.

“What are B-Points?”

 **【** B-points, also known as the points given for putting on airs. The higher the B-points, the higher the quality, the more magnificent, the better the rating. **】**

“Okay, okay. How do I raise them?” 

**【** One, change the nonsensical aspects of the plot, and raise the side cast’s IQs and point levels; two, avoid breaking the suspension of belief; three, ensure the protagonist’s gratification levels; four; discover and complete hidden plot points. **】**

“What exactly counts and nonsensical? I mean this is the land of therapy jutsu.”

 **【** The standard is subjectively determined; it depends on the readers’ reactions. **】**

“You said there are other kinds of points?”

 **【** That’s correct! Among points that may be encountered include Rage Points, Darkening Points, R-Points, Intelligence, Strength, etc. Points will be explained by Help Notices as you continue through the storyline! **】**

“Okay, okay. The OOC feature gets turned off when I complete the starting missions, right?”

 **【** That is correct! Once the starting missions have been completed you will have full access to your role's, ‘Uchiha Sasuke’, character settings. **】**

"How many points do I need to collect to launch the starting-stage missions?”

 **【** The timing is situationally determined. When the requirements have been met, the System will automatically notify you. **】**

“Well, that’s not helpful. Can you tell me what situations trigger it?”

 **【** Unfortunately you are currently using the Basic Package of our System. Upgrades can be purchased by exchanging points for them. This information would be available in the Player’s Guide. Would you like to exchange Points for the Guide at this time? **】**

“How much?”

 **【** As a first-time customer we are prepared to give you an excellent deal! Only 99,999 for the Complete Player's Guide to _Naruto_! This includes a walkthrough of all missions, side missions, companion missions, hidden missions, and cheats! Guides to _Shippuden_ must be purchased separately after entering the initial story arc. **】**

“Th-that’s robbery! How many points do I have currently, again?”

 **【** Current Stats: 100 B-Points. **】**

“Well that’s not happening then.”

It had gone on like that for awhile, before she had gotten a headache and ventured out to explore the apartment, led by an empty stomach. It was almost uncomfortably neat and something in her itched to mess it up if only to escape the suffocating feeling that one misstep or item out of place would earn her a slap. Due to this neatness though it was easy to figure out the kitchen's setup. The kitchen was well stocked with prepared meals sorted out and labeled for the entire week. Even the refrigerator was carefully organized with everything carefully spaced and stacked. She grabbed a fork and what appeared to be curry and rice that smelled mouthwatering and began eating it cold out of the plastic container. It wasn't the best thing she'd ever eaten, but it was impressive considering Sasuke was twelve and she was hungry. At that age she hadn't been able to do much more than microwave meals and baking.

Eating as she walked, she began her inspection of the apartment.

Sasuke's tendencies towards order extended out to everything. His bookshelf, his bed, even his closet were all almost obsessively organized. His desk proved to be particularly useful with clearly labeled notes going back years and extra reading material. He had a small planner that had a careful listing of bill dates, exams, and appointments. After some snooping she eventually found the false bottom in the drawer containing envelopes that were nearly labeled by month and year with a small amount under the date. Inside were different amounts of money that were being saved. On the top was an envelope thicker than the others with only the date written on it, seemingly untouched.

It took her a second helping of curry, marked for lunch Saturday, and several hours to get a general look at Sasuke's carefully arranged life and records. The Graduation Exam was in a little over a month. A month which, according to Sasuke's notes, would be spent in review for their final test. It was both very lucky and horrible. On one hand it would be reviewing all the information she needed to know. On the other hand it relied on a foundation of _years of learning._ Sasuke clearly hadn't been worried. His notes for the day had consisted of a basic list of topics to review and then extensive notes on the new training regime he was starting in preparation for post-Graduation. 

May-Sasuke did not have the luxury of such confidence. After taking a deep breath, she grabbed the notebook labeled _Year 1: Review_ and settled in for reading. 

The weekend was a blur of acquainting, though it blessedly felt like reacquainting, herself with Sasuke's entire school career. Once she read about a topic she understood it almost instantly mind easily filling it in. Apparently she retained Sasuke's basic "Skill Set" as the System called it when questioned. She just needed to trigger it so she'd remember. 

She barely left the bed, thankful for Sasuke's meal prepping preventing her from having to leave the apartment. For all it made her skin crawl, it had definite benefits. The bed had quickly lost it's pristine corners, becoming a tangled nest of blankets and pillows she'd collapse into and piled with scrolls and notebooks and research. The dirty dishes were shoved onto the floor to be dealt with later. She, unfortunately, didn't really have the chance to try chakra control. The first night after finishing the first year curriculum, she'd steadied herself and after assuming the Lotus Pose closed her eyes to try out the basic exercises only to trigger a migraine and thirty seconds of blackness. The Chakra Exhaustion had apparently been real and serious. She had to sleep off the headache and her whole body was still sore in the morning. Erring on the side of caution she decided to wait as Iruka had told her to.

She felt tentatively confident, academically, when she finished blurry eyed and yawning late Sunday night and reluctantly dragged herself to the bathroom to shower and change out of the clothing she'd been wearing over 48 hours. 

It was awkward. She had been carefully avoiding thinking of the physical changes to her body and it made her feel disconnected and shaky to see. She showered with her eyes closed. She'd already had one breakdown this weekend. She could deal with _that_ after she'd gotten through her first hurdle. She'd dried off quickly, wrapping herself in Sasuke's, hers now she supposed, surprisingly fluffy towels and grabbed the baggiest shirt and soft pants in Sasuke's closest she could find. She suspected they were an older relative's, Fugaku's maybe, but pushed it aside. She was quite good at ignoring things. Especially unpleasant ones until they could be dealt with emotionally. Wearing a dead man's clothes was small in the grand scheme of things. 

She curled up in her nest after triple checking her alarm and nodded off.

-

She woke up to what sounded like a hundred alarms blaring all at once. The sheer nose of it left her curling up in a pained ball, hands over her ears, too dazed from being dragged abruptly from sleep to realize the sound was internal _not_ external. Then, the System began to speak shrilly, its voice overlapping and temporarily drowning out the sirens.

**【WARNING. WARNING. WARNING.** Important things are said three times. Your current actions are OOC and qualify as an act of violation; please correct immediately, or the System will automatically dole out punishment. Please, correct immediately or punishment will occur. This is your only courtesy warning. **】**

****

_STOP THE SIRENS AND EXPLAIN!_ She screamed inside, the headache pounding behind her jaw and the idea of adding her voice to the noise as well horrifying. The alarms cut out, leaving her head spinning with only one weakly whining in the background.

 **【** 'Uchiha Sasuke' role's settings are currently listed as punctual. The System estimates that if you do not leave in the next five minutes you will be late and incur penalties. **】**

It was said in the same robotic calm voice as anything else, but once the words registered she was wide awake from panic. The weak whine was the alarm she'd set and slept through made miniscule by the cacophony that had dragged her into awareness. She swallowed back her horror jumping off the bed and dragging on the clothes in the top drawer, already carefully arranged. Her bag hadn't really been unpacked and all she added was lunch and her keys, barely remembering to lock up before she was rushing out. It was only a small hiss that forced her to make the bed before she left resenting every moment of it and arguing with the System, and winning, that Sasuke would prioritize going to the Academy over cleaning the rest of the room.

A small whine from the System about running being out of character had her ducking into some alleys that she had a vague sense connected to the center of the village and the Academy. The System seemed to not mind the OOC reaction if it was away from prying eyes. 

Loopholes and arguing were allowed then. 

When she came out to the street directly in front of the Academy she had to force herself to walk, seemingly unaffected. Her hands though were trembling in her pockets, unsure how many points she could lose and not wanting to tempt fate. The System, counting down time in a ruthlessly at ease manner, didn't help. 

Her stomach was twisted in on itself when she entered the room on '5' of the countdown and it took everything she had to calmly look for an unoccupied seat in the back when every instinct wanted to collapse in it from relief. It must have been a day of miracles, because the only seat left was on the other side of Choji in the last row. As a bonus it was a window seat. She slipped in with only a mildly curious look from Choji, who focused back on his snacks, a tin of chocolate covered fruit. Shikamaru, on his other side, didn't even bother opening his eyes.

The System went silent and she allowed her shoulders to relax, but kept a deliberately blank expression.

Iruka looked at her as she settled in and smiled. When they made eye contact she almost returned the expression out of sheer instinct but caught herself and nodded instead. He marked something off on his clipboard and continued around the room.

Then she focused on the window propping her arm up and resting her chin on it, very pointedly ignoring the whispers and, she cringed inside, mix of cooing and giggling that erupted around the room. She hoped the complete disconnect of her body language would prevent any well wishers, but could feel the gazes like burns on her skin.

Thankfully, Iruka called the class to order before anyone could feel particularly brave. She let out a soft sigh, which caused Choji to give her another quick look, this time with his eyebrows drawing together making his face scrunch up. He looked away though when he noted her looking at him.

She would ignore that for now and focused on the lecture, taking notes idly in the same, or a close approximation of, the method she'd become used to after working through years of notes.

-

The first half of the day went well. The students didn't dare disrupt Iruka's lesson even if she could feel the impatience and curiosity in her direction. She was dreading lunch when Iruka, unexpectedly, saved her again. He insisted that she accompany him to the Academy's on duty Medic to get checked over before he would let her continue to practicals in the afternoon. She _wanted_ to throw her arms around the man's waist and sob her thanks into his chest. Instead she settled for scowling in feigned displeasure, but allowing him to pull her away to safety.

The Medic, a kind-faced round woman with gentle callused hands and startling pupiless blue eyes that marked her as a Yamanaka despite her oil pitch hair, examined her carefully. She watched the green energy with quiet awe and bubbling fascination feeling the way it drifted into her skin. It wasn't intrusive, the energy felt too gentle for that, but it was foreign and interesting. She could only feel it with careful focus, leaving her so distracted she didn't school her face into the aloof expression she'd practiced. The Medic, Yamanaka Inori, laughed at whatever expression she showed, but it was a joyful sound lacking any mocking edge and the woman cheerfully began explaining the technique.

The System seemed to accept her continued silence as acceptable. Though she was fascinated and wanted to gather any information she could find on healing, Sasuke would very much not be. As long as she remained quiet and kept her scowl on she could get away with listening. She lingered and ate her lunch as Inori explained her condition.

Still weak, but recovering with one day of rest recommended. Her pathways were apparently irritated and were healing a bit slowly. They were too delicate for Inori to help ease along, but would recover naturally. 

Iruka banned her from jutsu training, forcing her to give him a scowl she didn't feel. She would stay though so she could observe her classmates and participate in physical training that afternoon. 

By the time they made it back lunch was over and she happily settled down beside Choji again to watch. 

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Animated System Icons from Tossawary's [System Icons](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26777152/chapters/65321077).


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, these chapters for the most relaxed story in creation are coming quickly. Please be gentle. I'm not usually so quick to the draw, but this is a stress relief story so that's probably why.
> 
> WARNING: Blinking icons used within fic.

The whispers that exploded when she did not participate put her arrival this morning to shame, but she avoided interactions by shamelessly angling herself behind Choji. She made sure to keep her closest equivalent to brooding fury on her face. She wasn't sure how effective it was, but no one dared to approach. 

Watching the others was enlightening. Probably more than Iruka realized. She found her mind recognized the hand signs and the sense memory of how to perform them hit her. She absently rubbed her thumb against the palm of her hand to distract from the twitchy feeling in it that wanted to copy. _Tomorrow,_ she decided. She'd get up early and practice.

They only went over the Henge today with each student coming forward and Iruka offering polite criticisms and corrections to them. The most interesting part was seeing all the characters in flesh and blood. Some looked a little different than how she'd imagined they would in real life. She hadn't expected Kiba to be the kind of adorable babyfat cheeked kid she wanted to pinch or Sakura's hair to have reddish highlights in the light or freckles that seemed to appear all over Naruto's tanned skin. The System wouldn't shut up either, deciding to pop up and comment every time one of the characters stepped in front of the classroom to practice.

 **【New Character** : Akimichi Clan Heir, Akimichi Choji **】** The System _helpfully_ chimed up as Choji went down to the front of the class.

 _I have been sitting beside Choji the entire time. Why didn't you pop up earlier or for Iruka? Or for Inori?_ She asked, finally letting out an exasperated sigh.

 **【** The System provides identities of New Characters following their introduction sequence trigger. As the Opening Character it is assumed 'Umino Iruka' is already known to you. 'NPC Medic' does not have high enough development to require an introduction. Would you like to turn off this feature? Warning! If you select 'yes', this feature will not be able to be turned back on until you have unlocked 'Uchiha Sasuke' settings! **】**

She was instantly suspicious and firmly thought _No._ As annoying as the chiming was she was sure the moment she turned it off it would bite her in the ass.

 **【** ╮(︶▽︶)╭ If that is you wish Customer-san. **】**

She stared at where the slightly glowing kaomoji faded just as quickly as it appeared. It almost made her miss the shout from the front as Choji settled in beside her once more and Iruka began going over what they'd be reviewing in their physical courses.

"WHY ISN'T SASUKE HAVING TO REVIEW?" Naruto demanded, pointing at her and using what her mind helpful reminded her was a very rude form of addressing someone. It was said with all the wronged indignity a twelve year old could muster. Iruka sighed in response and before he could answer Naruto received a smack from behind that made him give out a small pained yelp akin to a puppy that made her lips twitch and her heart coo. 

"Don't point at Sasuke-kun!" Sakura snarled wrathfully and grabbed him by the collar to shove him back down. The small girl had an inch on the even smaller boy, but it was still surprising to see her easily throw him back into the chair. This was apparently all the permission the class needed to implode. A mixture of shouts at Naruto and demands to know about Sasuke's health. One tearful girl asking if she was dying which hyped up the hysteria even further.

May-Sasuke leaned back in her chair and watched the chaos with a mix of amusement and wariness. The class seemed to have temporarily forgotten she was here, for all they were ostensibly talking about her, _in front of her_. She heard Shikamaru murmur something under his breath, no doubt his signature catchphrase. Her lips twitched again wanting to smile, but a small alarm chime made her scowl genuinely. She leaned back in her chair. 

She just wanted to smile without the threat of encroaching death. Was that too much to ask?

Realizing this may take a moment, she waited patiently, focusing on Iruka's darkening expression, for the inevitable explosion.

"SILENCE!"

 _Boom._ She thought giggling on the inside.

"You will respect your classmate's privacy. Head to Training Field A, _now_." 

She wanted to applaud the sheer Fear of Iruka he had installed in them as they all headed out cowed. She did receive a nasty look from Naruto, who was whining softly beside their sensei, but ignored it. It was like a kitten hissing at someone. Choji and Shikamaru proved to be useful shields. She made sure to walk slightly away from them, but with them firmly as meat shields between her and the preteens. It had the added benefit of letting her follow them rather than getting lost. When they arrived and lined up, she saddled in a few steps away and leaned against the fence with her hands in her pockets hoping she looked appropriately bored. 

"Pair up and start with the Basic Academy stances. No free sparring. I want all of you going through the full sets, then switch defense and offense and do it again."

There was plenty of grumbling at that. She though vowed that, once she had OOC enabled, she would be showering Umino Iruka with the praise he deserved for punishing them in the perfect way to help her. But then she felt her skin prickle as gazes settled on her hungrily.

Without a moment of hesitation she grabbed Choji's wrist. She almost apologized at the genuine alarm the action triggered on his face, but desperate times.

"Spar with me." she said, definitely not panicking. 

**【WARNING**! Action is OOC- **】**

_Choji's family specializes in taijutsu! And Sasuke hates interacting with his fans. Using Choji to measure himself against a skilled Clan and as a meat shield is definitely in character!_

**【**... **】**

_I am the one who watched the show here! Trust me._

**【**... **】** The continued silence had a brief moment of a dial tone and then a click. **【** It has been decided we will allow this action, but caution you to be more cautious of OOC actions. This can still be considered within the tutorial day, so leniency is permitted. Further OOC actions **_will_ ** be penalized. **】**

 _Bless you System_.

 **【** Customer-san has been more polite than _others._ The System is here to support you! **】**

She doubted that, but she'd take it.

Choji was looking at her wide eyed. He looked over his shoulder at Shikamaru. She saw that the other boy was suddenly very awake, dark eyes intense and staring into her. The young genius was clearly protective of his friend and suspicious of her intentions.

"You're one of the best at taijutsu," she said, trying to be both convincing and uninterested. "It would be a waste for me to try against someone weak, even for a simple exercise."

_Save me Akimichi Choji! You're my only hope!_

She was watching Choji closely so she saw the way the surprise went across his face followed quickly by a bit of flustered pride at the complimentary truth. Choji looked at Shikamaru again uncertain, but less wary. Shikamaru's expression was inscrutable. After a few tense seconds, barely any time really, he gave a small nod and went to go grab a classmate nearby. Seeing what she supposed was approval Choji turned back to her and nodded.

When she didn't have a death threat hanging over her, she would definitely repay this.

-

The katas went slowly. 

Choji seemed nervous and reacted slowly at first, before they fell into a rhythm and she began going through the motions of the familiar moves. And they definitely felt familiar. She found herself easily falling into the appropriate response to Choji's attack moves, carefully memorizing what he did. She let the body react naturally and noted the movements. Choji kept throwing her thankful looks at her admittedly gentle blocks and measured movements as she learned, or relearned, the katas. As they switched she found herself copying Choji's moves from early but naturally adjusting them to something smoother. By their second set through she was fairly certain she had them down and her muscles felt pleasantly loose. Choji was still moving rather slow in comparison and she absentmindedly noted something off about his stance. Years of playing tutor and the pleasant exhaustion that made her temporarily forget her position, had her relaxing her posture and nudging his foot, mouth already opening when she registered what it was.

"Your stance. You need to widen-"

A few things happened simultaneously. Choji flinched back at the sudden deviation from their practice, making him flail back, tripping over the foot she had been nudging him with, an alarm went off making her flinch back at the announcement blaring in her head, and there was a battle cry from behind them followed by an explosion of shouting and yapping.

 **【** Violation: OOC. -10 Points. Points remaining after deduction: 90 Points. **】**

" _Fuck_ " she swore low and in English causing a new wave of alarms.

 **【** Violation: Wrong Language. -3 Points. Points remaining after deduction: 87 Points. **】**

_Really?_

**【** The System would like to remind Customer-san that we have been generous as is. **】**

Still it wasn't as bad as she'd feared. She was expecting a large drop but in lower numbers she could manage it. As soon as she figured out how to start earning points back it would be fine.

Choji had pushed himself back to his feet while she'd been distracted and was looking at her with obvious confusion, his lips pursed and his brown eyes curious.

"You, ah, what were you saying?" Choji asked. "About my stance?"

How to say what needed to be said but still be an aloof brat? She scowled, crossing arms and huffing. Choji cringed. Inside she wept at the sight of such a sweet boy cringing away from her.

"Your stance isn't wide enough. I can't practice countering your defense if you aren't even doing it right." She hoped the tone was biting enough. There wasn't an alarm so she supposed it passed.

Choji looked at her a few seconds before falling back into the stance.

"Like this?" He asked.

"Lower, bend your knees, angle your feet more to the left." 

The advice came out brisk and demanding. She tensed slightly, but relaxed when it wasn't met with any sort of deduction. 

Choji looked thoughtful, frowning, as he relaxed back out of it. "It feels _off._ "

"That's because you got lazy and fell into bad habits. Correct it so you aren't wasting my time, Akimichi." 

He looked offended for a moment and glared at her but then paused before readjusting. She took the time he was adjusting his stance to look behind them and found a circle had formed. In the center, Iruka was shouting at Naruto and Kiba, who'd fallen into a wrestling match. She doubted they'd have much longer left in class today. If they continued as Sasuke's notes hinted they'd be doing the same tomorrow. Which meant _Danger_.

"Practice," She snapped, startling Choji who gaped at her. "You should practice and then we'll spar again tomorrow."

Choji stared at her, for several long minutes, as if she'd announced something truly ridiculous. "You want to spar more. With me."

"Yes. I need someone who knows what they're doing to train against or what's the point."

"You just called me lazy!" Choji protested. 

"You are," she said back, not pulling any punches. "But you're competent and your Clan specializes in taijutsu. If you actually tried then you'd be someone worth fighting against. I need a good opponent."

Choji stared again and frowned. "There's others. Kiba's good. Ino's top kunoichi!"

She looked at him at those suggestions and he smiled a little bashful realizing what he'd suggested.

"Kiba is a discount Naruto." She said dryly. "And it's _Ino_."

Choji scowled at the tone. "Hey."

She appreciated the Team Ten solidarity he was already showing, but well childhood friends. She'd expect nothing less.

"It's fair when it concerns me. She's very," she paused, unable to suppress the cringe at the thought of having to face any of her "fans". " _Intense_."

Choji snorted and then turned it to a cough when she looked at him. He seemed almost relaxed and actually offered her a nervous smile.

"Uh, I guess you're right about that. She's always been that way." It was good natured and his smile seemed to grow revealing a small _dimple._ "I'll spar with you. Uchiha."

There was something joking at the surname and it was frankly adorable.

 _I would die for you_ , she decided then and there. She was going to shower this boy in sweets and baked goods the moment she could get away with it. 

They walked back to Iruka in significantly relaxed air between them than when they'd started. 

-

The next morning Choji, who she was dubbing Best Boy, had saved her a seat and looked somewhat nervous as she settled in beside him without comment. She relaxed, ignoring the way the class had looked at her when she slipped in the last few minutes, part of her new strategy to avoid interacting as long as possible. Choji didn't bother trying to drag her into conversation, chatting easily at the drowsy Shikamaru instead.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Animated System Icons from Tossawary's [System Icons](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26777152/chapters/65321077).


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to thank everyone who kept commenting despite the long time without updates. It was because of you I was able to get through this chapter! Thank you!
> 
> WARNING: Blinking icons used within fic.

The next couple weeks were easier than she'd thought they'd be. Not any less stressful, but not a colossal horror show. It had a lot less to do with her ability to act than Sasuke's own personality she suspected.

The sad truth of Uchiha Sasuke’s life was that there was no one the boy allowed to be close enough to notice the sudden change in personality with the System “helpfully” correcting any OOC behavior and her own understanding of the character. She was passing as Sasuke which was both unnerving and heart wrenching. It made something inside her twist at the implication of just how desperately lonely the boy was and cut off from the people around him. Her squishy soul hurt for him remembering her own years of isolation. She at least had the other kids in the Children’s Ward, for a time, and her siblings to help stave off the crushing silence. 

She was never truly alone.

Sasuke had no one and it left her breathless with the aching sympathy in her throat.

She’d been concerned about her interactions from the rest of the class, but the truth of it was, even when she had been caught alone no one had dared approach too closely. There was an invisible bubble that no one dared cross.

Well. Almost no one.

She was learning the true horror of being the center of the, somewhat one-sided, rivalry of Uzumaki Naruto. He, more than anyone else, was the one giving her the most trouble now that she was catching her stride by spending every free moment training, reviewing, and familiarizing herself with the ordered remains of Sasuke’s life. Naruto seemed to have taken some special offense to her presence and the more she avoided his attempts to drag her into an argument or spar the worse it got. She doubted Naruto could figure out her secret, of all people, for all he was creative and highly empathetic. Somehow her attempt to focus on ignoring him completely rather than deal with all his _everything_ had made their relationship, non-existent as it was, _worse_. 

It wasn’t just her either. Iruka had clearly noticed at Naruto’s increasingly loud attempts at getting her attention. He frowned looking back and forth between his brow wrinkled and warm eyes concerned.

It was in character for Sasuke to ignore Naruro and act like he was beneath his notice, but she was probably pushing it a bit. She disappeared and avoided like a champ to escape any situation that involved her being close enough for Naruto to try and goad her in a manner Sasuke wouldn't have ignored with his temper. If he managed to corner her, she knew the OOC option would trap her.

She was **_not_ ** going to throw down with a twelve year old.

Choji was a welcome relief. He didn’t question her behavior so long as she kept things distant and had, perplexingly, seemed to be growing warmer to her. He'd started to linger a bit, not quite inviting her but mentioning where he and Shikamaru would be eating lunch. She just nodded a silent acknowledgement each time, touched by the kindness. She wanted desperately to say yes. Choji was a sweet boy and his unfailingly kind disposition reminded her painfully of her brother and she wanted to burrow her face in his shoulder and bemoan her fate. She resisted though because a.) it was OOC and b.) she still had enough pride as an adult, albeit barely qualifying as such before her demise, to not burden herself on a _child._

Besides, she was pretty sure Shikamaru would get up the energy to stab her if she monopolized any more of Choji's time. 

Now, Shikamauru was someone she could genuinely worry about figuring out this impossible situation. He was tolerating her presence, but she was certain tolerating was all he was doing. She felt his dark eyes on her more than once, watching any interaction to Choji with a careful intelligent gaze. It was sharper than anything he directed at Iruka's lectures and she didn't doubt he noticed and filed away any slip ups or new habits she was demonstrating. Interacting with him made her feel more nervous than any job interview or school presentation had ever managed to. Thankfully, he didn't seem intent to be proactive and she suspected so long as she kept her balancing act he wouldn't feel the need to destroy her on Choji's behalf.

Shikamaru was truly a terrifying but loyal child.

It led to a rather lonely few weeks in which the System in her head was the one she spoke to more frequently than any others. It did leave her with a lot of free time to sort out her life now that her initial panicked rush to learn as much as possible had faded into the lowest form of confidence she could skate by. Ninjutsu had come as easily as everything else once she started. It felt like it was a cheat, but she wasn't one to not take advantage of it.

Her Skills List was a lovely facet that the System forgot to mention was a godsend, allowing her to level up skills the more she practiced and unlock them. It was odd to look at the slightly glowing menu in real life and had led to a long discussion on the qualifications of the Gamer, isekai, and self-insert/OC-insert writing trope with the System which had lead to the revelation the System had done stints in a Harry Potter world and several Wuxia stories with other individuals that it was happy to have a free ear to complain about. The whole conversation had given her a headache and a small existential crisis, but she had settled on assuming there was little to no logic to the System and to just exploit what she could of it.

Like the Mission and Map tabs. 

So far, she hadn't actually managed to do much with the Misison Tab, apparently Missions would be accessible once she finished the starting-stage mission. It remained gray and unable to be selected until she finished it. The Map was infinitely more useful and after playing around with it a few times she discovered she could mark locations like in a video game and the System would offer little alerts when she got close. 

The System was really useful, it turned out, with a little coaxing it was willing to set alarms for her, turn down the sirens, and remind her of any pressing events or reoccurring tasks. Her life was more put together than she'd ever managed on her own! It felt a little like having a personal assistant in her head. Though one who didn't quite understand the full range of human emotion and who seemed to only require payment in her willing ear once a week to allow the System to vent about other customers and unreasonable managers. She would drink her tea, which she'd been developing a taste for now, and murmur sympathetically. She was fairly certain the disembodied voice even _liked_ her to a certain degree. She'd even managed to start gaining some points for being in character.

Now though she was days away from the graduation test and she was unable to let the burgeoning tension go. It had led her to being quieter and quieter as a way to suppress her usual response to stress, which was rambling and bouncing around like an anxious rabbit. That would be OOC though. She became even more silent, refusing to let any words slip out for they all would if one did. Her free time had now moved on from frantic studying, though she kept up the rather intense training regime, and moved into relearning life skills and getting acquainted with Sasuke’s life management. 

She sorted through his envelopes, containing more money than she strictly thought was safe to keep on hand, but after looking through his records found forms ready to submit for a bank account that required the person opening it to either be of age, have a guardian submitting on their behalf, or be a shinobi. The rest of the paperwork, seeming to be from several years, showed basic medical information, his rental agreement, which she noted was expiring in April, and general relevant forms dealing with one's life. What caught her attention though was a box that had been tied closed with a string and shoved to the back of his closet, hidden under what seemed to be winter clothes. 

She dragged it out and was reeling when she realized what it contained having to set it aside for a moment and just breath. It was a collection of legal paperwork having to deal with Sasuke’s inheritance. As the sole remaining heir to the family he owned _everything_. Deeds, heirlooms, land, businesses, everything. But there were also _death certificates_. Over a hundred. And family photos, sealed away in a large black envelope as if to hide them. 

Then it got _worse_.

There was a heftier manila folder under the family photos, it was at least half an inch thick and bursting, worn along the edges as if it had been opened and closed multiple times. When she picked it up she felt a cold chill pass through her and her mouth went dry. It was odd, because it felt less like _her_ reaction and more like how she'd experienced muscle memories when relearning forms. 

_Sasuke_ was the one who'd felt ill at the mere sight of this folder.

The first thing she pulled out was a stack of letters. They were on the creamy thicker paper stock that screamed official. Each one had another paper of a different stock paper clipped to it. The first one had been taped back together and crumbled, but she could still read it. 

-

_Konohagakure Archive Library_

_1-1 Shodai, Saisho-ku_

_Date of Issue: S36-09-10_

_Reference: F-2021-00281_

_Uchiha Sasuke_

_3-13 Naka, San-Ban-ku_

_003-0013 Konoha_

_The attached document has been seen at_ **_Konohagakure Intelligence Division_ ** _._

_Dear Requester:_

_This letter is an acknowledgement of and response to your 1 September Sandaime 36 request for_ **_any and all documents related to the investigation of Uchiha Itachi’s (Registration ID: 012110) actions on 3 August Sandaime 36_ ** _. KID assigned your request the reference number provided above. In future correspondence, please use this number to facilitate this office’s location of your case information._

_Records created during the period of your interest, if any exist, are currently considered classified as they are part of an ongoing investigation within the Konohagakure Intelligence Division and have not been processed to the Konoha Archive Library. Your request has been denied. This decision cannot be appealed but the request may be submitted again in 30 days._

_By authorization of:_

_Serizawa Ritsuto_

_Executive Archivist_

-

Attached was a letter, written on a ripped out notebook paper, a stilted attempt of formal request for the case files of the Massacre from what would have been an eight year old Sasuke. She opened the next one, dated the next month, another rejection, and continued flipping through them skimming the contents.

-

_Date of Issue: S36-10-10_

_-_

_Your request has been denied. This decision cannot be appealed but the request may be submitted again in 30 days._

-

_Date of Issue: S36-11-10_

-

_Your request has been denied. This decision cannot be appealed but the request may be submitted again in 30 days._

-

_Date of Issue: S37-06-10_

_-_

_Date of Issue: S38-05-10_

_-_

_Date of Issue: S39-03-10_

_-_

_Date of Issue: S40-02-10_

-

_Your request has been denied._

-

_Your request has been denied._

-

_Your request has been denied._

_-_

_Your request has been denied._

_-_

The letters were written every 30 days since the first, for _years_. And they were denied every time. She wasn't sure what she was feeling by the time she got to the last one but her throat burned and her stomach felt twisted and ached.

-

... _This letter is an acknowledgement of and final response to your 10 September Sandaime 41 request for_ ** _any and all documents related to the investigation of Uchiha Itachi’s (Registration ID: 012110) actions on 3 August Sandaime 36_** _._

_Records created during the period of your interest have been released to the Konoha Archive Library. Your request has been_ **_approved_** _. Records may be picked up_ **_Monday-Thursday between 6 AM and 5 PM_** _. Please have your reference number ready upon arrival._

_By authorization of:_

_Serizawa Ritsuto_

_Executive Archivist_

-

She felt her fingers shake a little as she sat down the last letter and picked up the thick file that had _KNHA-041238438_ written on its bulging outside in neat simple handwriting. She took a steadying breath and opened it.

-

 **Incident Number:** 08360000002345

 **File No.:** KNHA-041238438

 **Mission Incident Number:** N/A

**Incident Information**

**Occurred On/From:** WED S36-08-03 08:57 PM

 **Occurred To:** WED S36-08-03 11:33 PM

 **Reported On:** THR S36-08-04 12:03 AM

**Reported As:** Disturbance

 **Incident Type:** Mass Murder and Defection

**Incident Address:** 13-1 Uchiha, Banme-ku, 013-0001 Konoha

 **Reporting Officer:** [ **_REDACTED_ **]

 **Involved Officers:** [ **_REDACTED_ **]

 **Witnesses:** Uchiha Sasuke (8)

.

.

.

.

-

The report continued in clinical terms going over what had happened, how the Clan all been killed, indexing the dead one by one. The carnage broken down into dry explanation and only occasionally interrupted by blacked out information, most likely the identities of the ANBU investigating.

-

.

.

.

  * Uchiha Teyaki (46), found in kitchen of _Uchiha Senbei_ , _Cause of Death_ : Exsanguination from slit throat.
  * Uchiha Uruchi (46), found in bedroom, of apartment above _Uchiha Senbei_ , _Cause of Death_ : Exsanguination from slit throat.
  * Uchiha Yakumi (28), found in Konoha Military Police Force Headquarters, _Cause of Death_ : Fatal Stab Wound to Heart
  * Uchiha Yashiro (45), found in Konoha Military Police Force Headquarters, _Cause of Death_ : Fatal Stab Wound to Heart



-

By the end of the list, her stomach was roiling and then she flipped the page, unable to stop herself, feeling trapped by the need to understand. There were _photos_. Crime scene photos. Dozens, lined up and labeled in order of when they were shot, showing bodies fallen where they died in various states of violence.

Looking at the photos of dead bodies, of people that had been _murdered_ her head _swam_. She couldn’t handle it much less when combined with the bone deep horrifying grief that the images triggered within her body. She threw the folder back in the box and ran to the bathroom, throwing up as the System dinged in her ears.

 **【Secret Mission Unlocked!** _Family Secrets, Hidden Stories_. Congratulations, Customer-san! **】**

She ignored it, sight blurred with tears and gasping for air as she dry heaved.

 **【**...I’ll leave Customer-san be then. **】** The System said, robotic voice sounding almost awkward.

She just stayed heaving and shaking and crying, barely able to catch her breath through the strange impression of grief that seemed to linger from Sasuke and her own sympathy and horror.

-

It had taken hours to convince herself to go back to the box and even more to start sorting it. The Uchiha Massacre's case file with Sasuke's desperate letters was sealed back in its folders and shoved at the bottom of the winter clothes. The rest she began to work her way through and figure out what she would need to do when she "came of age". There was a lot of legal jargon and mention of trusts and inheritance law. By the end she realized that she was clearly rich now and that she would need a lawyer to begin sorting through the legal aspects of everything. That wasn’t even counting the physical task of sorting through everything in the district that _she owned_. According to her paperwork it still stood there, legally hers, well the body she inhabited, and untouched and sealed.

The weekend had ended with her tentatively starting researching inheritance lawyers she could speak with once she was a legal adult post-graduation and came into her inheritance. She decided that Iruka, who'd been similarly orphaned may have some idea of where she could start looking and wouldn't screw her over. She ended up cleaning the entire apartment to funnel some of her anxiety into something productive. Cleaning, she was finding to her amused horror, was strangely soothing so long as she always left at least something just slightly out of place to prevent the level of neatness that made her skin crawl. Books and scrolls were easiest to help with this, leaving whatever she was reading, strategically around the house. She also took out a few blankets and had thrown one onto her designated kitchen chair and made sure to drop her everyday shoes in a pile at the entrance rather than line them up neatly.

It eased something in her, letting her breathe. 

Things were going so well (so long as she ignored the file hidden in the closet) she really should have expected them to go wrong.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Animated System Icons from Tossawary's [System Icons](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26777152/chapters/65321077).


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Blinking icons used within fic.
> 
> Went back and edited the fic lightly to included the magnificent System Icons that brilliant Tossawary has been working on.
> 
> I've decided to try for shorter chapters, about 2000 words, to hopefully lead to more frequent updates. Next chapter is a quarter way finished though!

The week started with a headache from sleep interrupted by too realistic nightmares twisting her mind into a bleeding red-and-black world. The images from the Box had mixed in with scenes from the Massacre made real by her mind. Uchiha Fugaku and Mikoto had been killed on repeat and it only got worse when halfway through the night their faces were replaced with **_May’s family_**. 

May had laid there after waking, looking blankly at the ceiling for at least an hour before the System had started nudging her. Only then did she turn and look blearily out her window to see the soft day, threateningly rising in a perfect morning. The light outlined a crow camping out on a powerline across the street, head tucked under its wing still sleeping. She felt a stab of envy before, slowly, moving her weak limbs.

It was the final week at long last. The first half would be review and the last three days would be concentrated test taking for all the classes. It had been interesting to find that Naruto's classroom was not the only one. There were three others in their year under the tutelage of other Chunin. The only sensei she recognized was the curly haired woman with glasses who taught kunoichi classes. The testing was set up so that only one subject would be tested a day and the Academy review classes themselves were shortened as students were encouraged to study independently. 

As had become her habit the past month, she quickly settled beside Choji, leaning her chin against her intertwined hands and glaring uninterested outside the window. It was a little easier than normal to ignore everything and everyone. Though she was probably more listless than actively brooding. The throbbing along the base of her skull, the blurred edges of her vision, and the way the radiating pain made her throat tight and want to curl in on herself in some dark quiet place. It was almost nostalgic. It was the first time she'd felt _familiar_ with what this too healthy, too different body was experiencing. It also made her feel more irritable because she _couldn't_ react as she wanted to when feeling so vulnerable.

Her stomach was heavy and unsettled from where the System had forced her to eat breakfast despite her lack of interest. The tea had tasted cloying and seemed to roil on her stomach. The rice and fish had settled like a rock in her guts pressing painfully making her feel bloated.

Sasuke, _apparently_ , would not skip a meal no matter what, his schedule still firmly ingrained, though the System only forced her to obey it sometimes when they were alone in the apartment. OOC alerts pinging irregularly. She hadn't figured out the pattern for it yet and the System wasn't always willing to answer questions despite them getting along now.

May watched some leaves drifting along, mind blank and unfocused, skin prickling with unease. The loud conversation of the classroom went over her like white noise. Her mind not really processing any words. Even when Iruka quieted them she found it more difficult than normal to pay attention, only offering him a cursory glance. She'd been reviewing since she got here and honestly she could have slept through this. Another radiating uptake in pain ended this thought and resulted in a surge in the dull ache behind her eyes. The edge of her vision seemed to flicker with black and red dots.

She breathed out, shakily, and pressed her forehead to her crossed hands. 

She wished she could have slept through this day.

She closed her eyes, unable to deal with the light slipping through Sasuke’s bangs. 

Her world focused, becoming only the sensation of unbelonging that seemed to grow in tandem to the agony slicing through her. Every moment of familiar pain only emphasized how this _wasn’t her body_. Her neck was cold from hair cut too short. Her upper arms brushed nothing as they pressed against her sides. Her thumb brushed over unfamiliar callouses as it moved up and down the curve between the index and thumb of the opposite hand. 

A throb passed behind the eyes to the jaw leading to an ache behind teeth that were so straight _she wanted to punch them_.

She dug the knuckles into the knot of pain between the two eyebrows.

There was a red image flickering through her mind, nightmares making themselves known without her distractions.

_A cold June evening, night creeping in as the boy came home late, the point of view of small hands._

_A distant image of a figure crouched on an electric pole flickering between the image of a 2D drawing and one of worn wood shadowed by afternoon with an indistinct shape that disappeared as soon as it came into view, leaving black wires gently swaying._ A throb accompanied the change between them.

_Empty halls of the quiet--too quiet, something off--home as the boy rushed through it._

"Uchiha?" a voice asked beside her, making her flinch and press her shoulders up to her ears. She wanted to use her hand to cover them, to keep out the noise that sent a painful wave through her ending in a knot in her stomach. She couldn't move her hands though, tangled together they were clenched tightly. So tightly. If she broke them apart it felt like she would unspin completely.

Her only response was a grunt that ended in a half-whine.

There was a moment of silence that allowed the images to press their way forward, determined and dizzying.

_Door sliding open, changing to the wooden door and feeling the hand reach out terrified to open it. The shriek it made as it moved and the boy called out._

_The scene from the anime of Itachi standing over the illusion of Mikoto and Fugaku--_ No, _the inverted world showing the unfamiliar, familiar figures of a man and woman on their knees before_ **_Big-_** _Itachi as the blade fell, a silver ribbon flashing along the black, blood like white petals bleeding to black on the smooth wooden floor._

_Mikoto falling, body empty in a way that only death brought, her long hair spreading out like a cloud. It grew damp and sticky as the blood spread into her once silky hair. Her husband’s body falling milliseconds behind, draping over her still body, like a cut puppet curled over her abdomen._

"Sasuke?" a voice called, distant and sounding scared-- _as scared as the boy, so scared and confused and hurt_ \--the sound painful enough she whimpered through bitten lips. It faded away once more, almost immediate as the knife carved its way through her skull unearthing her/not-her memories as her body froze up to stop shaking apart leaving her untethered.

 _Sasuke being knocked unconscious staring into the eyes of a_ **_kill_** _\--_

Her mind brought up the truth she knew. _A black-and-white drawing of Itachi looking over his shoulder, flat but obvious in emotion as a tear fell down his._

A pain sharper than any other stabbed viciously behind the eyes making her bite the lip so hard she tasted blood beneath the skin to stop herself from whimpering. The hand pressed against the forehead felt damp and oddly warm, the sensation floating to her distant, through the murky film of pain.

The image reasserted itself more firmly.

_Sasuke/May running through the streets being defeated, humiliated--_

_Itachi crying--_

_Itachi threatening--_

_Itachi cry--_

The sound of quiet murmurs seemed to be getting closer. The wetness was increasing. She smelled copper.

_Itachi threaten--_

“Sasuke-kun,” Iruka’s hand grabbed the shoulder, a real sensation amongst the phantom, voice washing over her, drawing her mind from the pain. The pain moved up and down along with the voice. Inside she wept a little.

_Itachi--_

“Sasuke-kun,” he repeated a little more firmly. “ _Look at me._ ”

A shudder went through the body-- _her body (?)_ \--and she had to remind herself how to move, each action delayed. Moments stretched as she gathered the courage to follow through. The head moved heavy, eyes barely opened to the painful light. Hands clasped together shaking. Noise, or maybe pain, was roaring in the ears. The movement made the head spin and dampness fall onto the lips, quick and abundant. 

She blinked, the strange sensation enough to focus her, lips parting unconsciously and a bit of liquid creeping in.

It was a familiar taste on the tip of her tongue.

Blood.

 _I need to tell Dr. Kazahaya_ , she thought, instinctively, dazed as her gaze drifted to her hand red with blood.

_Wait. No. That already killed me._

Iruka looked horrified and she was pulled, carefully-- _too quickly_ \--to unsteady feet she couldn’t remember how to move. She was ushered gently-- _too fast, the world spun_ \--away catching images of an empty room and the sickly pale face of Choji at the door and Shikamaru’s eyes, so dark and so, so wide in surprise for the first time an emotion other than suspicion and boredom clear. Her head went dizzy as the body went weightless as it tipped forward shocked by the appearance of a familiar bluescreen and warning signs.

**【SYSTEM WARNING.】** ****

**【** **ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!** **】**

**【** **IMPORTANT THINGS MUST BE SAID THREE TIMES. DATA CORRUPTION IMMINENT. VIRUS DETECTED.** **】**

 **【** **STARTING ANTI-VIRUS PROTOCOLS. SCANNING HARDWARE.** **】**

 **【** **OOC RESTRICTIONS TEMPORARILY LIFTED. PUNISHMENT PROTOCOL TEMPORARILY OFFLINE.** **】**

 **【** **SYSTEM REBOOT STARTING IN:**

**5**

**4**

**3**

**2**

**1** **】**

**【** SYSTEM REBOOT IN PROGRESS. **REBOOT TIME:** 24 HOURS. **】**

-

Yamanaka Inori’s chakra washed through her like clear water, clearing away each knot of pain as it did, making her eyes water at the blissful feeling of _no pain_. As the medic treated her, the soft green glow visible through May’s closed eyelids she felt herself settle into the body more easily, no longer floating.

Inori spoke to her, fingers drifting upwards to skillfully massage her temple, an action that May found herself leaning into without a thought. She arched up into the fingers like a cat eager for pets and sighed softly as she did. With each movement the tension left her, making her feel more relaxed than she had since her arrival.

The questions were familiar, falling into a pattern that almost tripped her up more than once from the answers that wanted to fall out of sheer habit. Even the seemingly simple ones left her tongue tied and slow to answer the gentle coaxing words.

“Can you tell me your date of birth Sasuke-kun?”

“Y-Yes,” she’d barely managed to get out, stopping herself from stating another string of numbers that were meaningless now. Her brain slowly caught up, catching up and trying to calculate the year in the system she’d just learned. Minato had been Hokage a year when he died. Right? Her mind drifted in silence for an uncomfortable moment before she spoke.

“July twenty-third,” she said, confident in this part even as her voice was slurred. “...Yondaime 2.”

Inori hummed in agreement and May-Sasuke relaxed.

The questioning was slow, without too much demand going over basic information and the description of the pain, when the migraine had started, how often she had them, etc. So familiar, May almost reached out for her sister’s hand to ground her, but aborted the movement at the last second, curling the fingers into the sheet on the bed under her instead. When the last of the tension left, she allowed herself to be pushed against the bed by Inori until she was laid completely back. The hands left her forehead. She bit back a whimper at the loss of contact. They settled on her stomach instead, making her blink herself to some semblance of awareness. 

She looked down, eyes a little slow and watched, fascinated as the hands glowed and the green chakra sank into her stomach. It felt almost ticklish. She shifted slightly at the sensation, but made herself still focusing instead on how the chakra moved lightly over her, starting to go in a very slow circular pattern. The right hand remained there repeating the pattern as the left lifted to lay itself on her forehead.

May made a soft questioning sound that definitely did not fit Sasuke’s image and caught Inori’s blue gaze. The woman smiled and began to narrate her actions.

“I am checking for any irregularities in your chakra,” she said, voice pleasantly deep and smooth, a slightly lulling sound to it that made May feel drowsy even without the post-migraine hangover urging her to sleep. “Migraines in shinobi can sometimes be caused by minor blockages or damage to the _tenketsu_ in the brain. Ones affecting the eyes of _dojutsu_ users such as yourself are particular concerning. It may also be a sign of a physical ailment or simple overwork.”

May nodded, feeling the cool sensation wash over her and for a moment her eyes drifted closed, before she forced them open again.

“It’s alright Sasuke-kun,” Inori said, her thumb rubbing soothing circles against May’s forehead. “You can sleep for this part of the treatment. It will help you recover.”

May looked behind her noting the Reboot countdown was still going.

 **【** SYSTEM REBOOT IN PROGRESS. **REBOOT TIME:** 22 HOURS, 34 MINUTES. **】**

She did have time and there wasn’t any OOC function screaming for her to stop. May nodded and shifted back, allowing her eyes to close and lay back, enjoying the blissful sensation of _sleep_.

With Inori’s soft hands and quiet humming she drifted.

It was, mercifully, dreamless.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Animated System Icons from Tossawary's [System Icons](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26777152/chapters/65321077).


End file.
